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christmas pudding
Cab anyone tell me which queen invented the tradition of putting charms/coins into the christmas pudding
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Don't know which queen exactly, but it was in the Stuart times. And it wasn't pudding like we know it today. It was more a sort of porridge with minced meat and dried fruit in it.
The charms included a thimble (to mean work for the next year), a ring (to signify a wedding or business merger in the near future), a button (to mean that the person who found it would never marry), and coins to bring good fortune, riches and happiness (for the dentists at least!).
Christmas puddings were banned by the Puritans in the 1660s, describing the pudding as "lewd" and "unfit for godfearing people".
It became popular again in Georgian times, despite objections from religious groups.
Some people attribute Christmas Pudding as we know it to Prince Albert (yet again) as he loved plum pudding all year round and insisted on having it for dessert on Christmas day the first year he was married.
There are loads of traditions relating to Christmas Pudding. Some of the less bizarre include:
- it should be made with 13 ingredients to represent Christ and His Disciples
- every member of the family should take a turn to stir the pudding with a wooden spoon from east to west, in honour of the three kings
- each family member should make a wish when stirring the pudding. If you disclose your wish it won't come true in the next year.
- setting the brandy alight is said to represent Christ's passion
- a sprig of holly is often used to top the pudding as a reminder of the crown of thorns worn by Christ on the cross
I don't know which Queen either, but the practice probably dates back (like most Christmas tradiitons!) to the ritual of selecting a leader by hiding a small object in a cake or pudding. There are other examples - in Frnce and Holland on Twelfth Night they choose 'bean kings' by hiding a bean in a cake and in Denmark an almond is hidden in a rice dish on Christmas Eve.
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